The fledgling Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley has told the city of San Jose that the company could close as soon as Friday without an emergency grant of $100,000. “But a key city panel voted Monday night to deny the money, after arts groups complained that the money, from funds that had been slated for the now-defunct symphony, should be made available to all arts groups. The ballet is trying to raise $1.2 million to keep it afloat through the end of the season, in May, and perhaps give it enough time to further develop its own symphonic organization, Symphony San Jose Silicon Valley.”
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Denver Center Theatre’s Muted Celebration
Next season is the Denver Center Theatre’s 25th anniversary. But the theatre’s celebrations will be somewhat muted. The 25th season contains only one premiere, and tight budgets make restraint mandatory. “That premiere is a new musical, but its loneliness in a collection of regional premieres and American revivals points toward the shrinking endowment of the Bonfils Foundation, which largely underwrites the theater company. Donovan Marley, the theater’s artistic director, said next season will also see more staff reductions, and while he hoped they would be through attrition, he could not guarantee it.”
Poetry In Times Square
A young poet goes to Times Square to read poetry on the street. And people stop to listen. “The American public’s relationship to poetry is complicated. At best, poetry seems to be perceived as a rare salve to be applied in the wake of national tragedy; at worst it’s an elite parlor game. Much of the blame for such perceptions can be placed squarely on American poetry itself, which has privileged difficulty over clarity—in the process taking itself right out of public view. I don’t exactly fault modern American poetry for being difficult. The sensory experience of Times Square is as difficult as any poem and still we live within it. The power of great modern poetry is that it takes the monstrosity of Times Square and locates the human being at its heart.”
Time To Move On – Is London Stuck On Its Past Glories?
“Emerging from London art schools, the BritArtists brought glamour, hype and excitement to the capital and revitalised its arts scene in the 1990s. But now London has become a victim of its own success. In cities that have witnessed less global attention for their artists, such as Los Angeles or Berlin, there are thriving scenes, and new movements emerge every couple of years. London, however, has remained stagnant, while commercial galleries trawl through the dregs of Goldsmiths’ Class of 1990 for the one-that-got-away and focus is diverted from what’s really new.”
Clinton & Gorbachev And Peter & The Wolf
Bill Clinton and Mikhail Gorbachev are narrating a new recording of “Peter and the Wolf.” “The last leader of the Soviet Union will join the former US president in a special performance of Prokofiev’s work by the Russian National Orchestra under the command of the Grammy-winning conductor Kent Nagano. The recording will be Mr Gorbachev’s English language debut.”
No Roles When You’re Older? Dallas Actresses Start Their Own Theatre
A group of Dallas actresses in their 30s and 40s got tired of sitting around complaining that there were no roles for them anymore. So they started their own theatre, found an old church to renovate, and Contemporary Theatre of Dallas was born…
Waiter/Art Thief Faces Prison For Art Theft Spree
A waiter who stole paintings worth tens of millions of dollars over a six-year period, faces a ten-year prison term. “Stéphane Breitwieser targeted mostly small museums in France and Switzerland, but he has admitted to dipping into collections in the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Germany and Austria.Among the vandalised canvasses were works by Antoine Watteau and Peter Bruegel. About 110 objects, valued at more than £6m, have been recovered including glassware, china, and musical instruments. But up to 60 paintings have not been found, and investigators fear they were destroyed” by the man’s mother.
New Jersey Governor Proposes Elimination Of All State Arts Funding
New Jersey Gov. James E. McGreevey has proposed elimination of the state’s entire spending on the arts – $31.7 million in cultural funding in next year’s budget. Cuts include “all $18 million from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts budget, as well as $3.7 million from the historical commission and the next $10 million installment for the New Jersey Cultural Trust, a public-private partnership meant to stabilize struggling cultural groups.” Cultural groups are stunned: “We went to our own funeral today. We understand the fiscal crisis facing New Jersey. What we don’t understand or accept is why we are being singled out (and) … eliminated.”
Berlin To Keep Staatsoper Independent?
For two years cash-strapped Berlin has been trying to decide what to do ith its three opera houses. Proposals were made to merge operations, but that plan was vigorously opposed by Staatsoper director Daniel Barenboim. Now it looks like the companies may be saved. “Under proposals announced by the city’s arts chief, the Staatsoper and its renowned orchestra, the Staatskapelle, would retain their independence. But the three opera houses would pool a wide range of technical and administrative facilities and their ballet companies.”
Do Art And Opinion And Politics Mix?
LA Times art critic Christopher Knight recently began a review with the sentence: “The imbecilic plan for war with Iraq currently on offer from the Bush administration has yet to register much support from the American public.” Predictably, letters protesting Knight’s expression of a political opinion landed at the newspaper. Should a critic mix his political point of view with his judgment of art? Does it weaken the criticism?